The ERC Synergy Grants 2026 call closed for applications on 5 November 2025. These are the preliminary data on the submitted proposals:

Five Max Planck researchers secure prestigious ERC Synergy Grants in 2025, enhancing collaborative research in Europe.

Lange et al. identify a lipid droplet quality control pathway in which FSP1 safeguards stored neutral lipids from lipid peroxidation, thereby preventing the induction of ferroptosis.

Lange et al. identify a lipid droplet quality control pathway in which FSP1 safeguards stored neutral lipids from lipid peroxidation, thereby preventing the induction of ferroptosis.

Join the Allen Institute for Cell Science and Circuit Neuroscience Basel in Seattle, Washington, April 20–22, 2026, for a 3 day conference, Modeling...

Photoswitchable fluorophores are critical for advanced bioimaging. Here, we develop a photoswitchable self-labeling HaloTag that can reversibly modulate the emission of a bound fluorogenic dye via a ....

Photobleaching of fluorescent proteins often limits the acquisition of high-quality images in microscopy. StayGold, a novel dimeric green fluorescent protein recently monomerised through sequence engi...

Phosphoinositide signaling is a major cellular mechanism controlling cancer cell viability, proliferation, and survival. Yet, inhibition of lipid kinases that produce oncogenic phosphoinositides has afforded only a limited number of efficacious drugs attributed in large part to on-target toxicity resulting from the pleiotropic effects of these signaling lipids. Targeting the specific phosphoinositide effector pathways via competitive inhibitors of phosphoinositide-recognizing pleckstrin homology (PH) domains represents a relatively unexplored means to achieve greater specificity. Herein, we present the discovery from in silico screening, structure–activity relationship (SAR) optimization, and cellular characterization of novel phosphoinositide-competitive inhibitors of the pleckstrin homology domain-containing A (PLEKHA) family. These compounds induce cytotoxic effects in BRAF and NRAS mutant melanoma cells, consistent with on-target inhibition, and the most potent compound is activated by endogenous esterase activity, suggesting that prodrug esters represent a viable strategy for targeting the phosphoinositide-binding pockets of the PLEKHA family of PH domains.